Starting with the Herrschers, I Cut Down All

"Hey, hey, hey, what's with that weird expression?"

"No, I was just oddly relieved to see my formerly shut-in, listless big sister suddenly getting motivated."

"Keep it up, Sis."

It was rare for him to say something decent. Elysia puffed out her cheeks, but her mood did not worsen.

A lot had happened today, but it had not been bad for Elysia. Her little brother was even prepared to quit his job to stay with her while she recovered from her mental troubles, so she did not care about those little misunderstandings.

She was in a good mood today. After finishing her exercises, she would definitely have a good dream tonight.

After returning to his room, An Yu opened the second stage and selected Twin Familiars as his equipped skill.

"My mood was f***ing terrible today. I'll mow down some mobs and hope there won't be a pile of work waiting for me when I get back to the office tomorrow."

Survivor: An Yu

Level: 1

Skills: Void Realm Apostle 1, Twin Familiars

"Hopefully there won't be some annoying big boss coming in to ruin things this time."

Northern Asia, the vast and sparsely populated Siberian Snowfield, where the cold bit to the bone.

Bang!

"This test subject seems to be no good either. Tch, what a bunch of useless trash."

The screen gradually lit up. This time, there was even a cutscene.

An Yu was curled up in a corner. The NPC in his field of view stood by the door, seeming to clench his fists.

Since the pain synchronization had been set to the minimum, the shared pain at the beginning did not make his expression twist. He calmly examined his starting skills.

[Twin Familiars]

Active: Obtain a companion beast.

Passive: Initial quantity increased by 1000hw.

[Void Realm Apostle]

Active: Summon a Subspace Spear.

Passive: Imaginary Space affinity increased to 20%.

"Imaginary Space?"

Looks like this run had plenty of mechanics too.

An Yu touched the needle marks on his limbs. Accompanying the steadily rising faint pain was his experience bar.

Suddenly, the language that had barely been understandable turned into noisy electronic distortion. The grating, piercing sound made An Yu instinctively cover his ears.

"Doctor, the test subject seems to have changed. He's waking up!"

The iron door was pushed open, and a white-coated researcher rushed in excitedly.

Ever since the Herrscher of Reason had been born, it was as though the entire world had begun a Honkai arms race. Yet no country had produced any results so far.

An Yu extended his hand, and the mob's movements began slowing down.

"So this is Imaginary Space?"

Interesting. It created two worlds, using Imaginary Space projections. The classic approach was to continuously increase the projection area of Imaginary Space, thereby creating artificial relativity. Everything in reality would naturally slow down as well.

Unfortunately, since he himself was also in the main world, An Yu could not escape this time-slowing field.

But there was good news too: the electronic noise around him had weakened considerably within the field.

He slowly raised his hand and aimed at the unstable, flickering pixels on the mob's blurry face.

Whoosh!

The sound effect here should have been a sharp tearing noise, but games naturally went for whatever felt coolest.

The spear pierced through flesh and shot straight into the cold, hard corridor in the distance.

An Yu slowly rose to his feet. Looking at his hand, he pondered for a moment before adjusting the output method.

After the next spear pierced the distant mob's body, it was no longer bound by physical laws. While traveling, it transformed from solid back into intangible, until it pierced through flesh once more, repeating the process over and over.

"So the second stage is about space?"

An Yu shook his hair. The noise by his ears was like violently blown-out speakers, so loud that it irritated him.

"Then where are my familiars?"

Somewhere in the haze, he seemed to sense something. Snap.

Along with a crisp snap of his fingers, the guaranteed 1000hw of Honkai energy descended upon this place. There was even a powerful creature, entirely separate from that base 1000hw, born from the void.

A violent vortex of wind slammed against the tower until the walls collapsed. An Yu stood atop the shattered high-rise, facing the gale.

A colossal shadow fell over him. A ferocious Demon Dragon lowered its head, and An Yu grinned. He was starting to thoroughly enjoy this game.

"Let's begin!"

His experience points instantly filled up. In this starting area, even low-level familiars could easily hunt the white-clothed mobs and help collect experience.

"Announce to the world—"

"The descent of God!"

[Please select an upgrade path]

Void Realm Apostle 1 → 2

Artillery Support 0 → 1

Attack Speed 0 → 1

He mindlessly chose the main skill.

[Void Realm Apostle 2]

Active: Shape Imaginary Energy as desired.

Passive: Imaginary Space affinity increased to 40%.

"What—"

"It's this dream again."

Elysia strolled through the heart of the world. The bustling streets were full of traffic, and the endless stream of people was filled with hope for tomorrow.

She admired it as though no one else was around, even rising onto her toes in delight and lightly spinning in a circle.

Perhaps because Xiao Yu had unconditionally taken her side during the day, this dream contained far fewer disasters. "This is what a beautiful girl's dream should be like!"

"You seem very happy."

As Elysia's discoverer, Mobius had no choice but to follow alongside her.

As an organization that had only recently transitioned from archaeology, Fire Moth still held deep reverence for the Prophecy of the Previous Era.

On that day, He fell from the heavens. The people on the ground looked up, and thus beheld the stars...

Elysia truly seemed like the divine maiden described in the Prophecy, always smiling and full of hope for the future.

Who knew how long that lofty reverence would last? After all, Elysia had exposed far too much.

"Oh, Professor, you're here too."

Elysia was in a good mood. After all, she could reunite with an old friend in her dream.

"Want to go eat together?"

Mobius extended her hand. She needed to settle Elysia's affairs, or her laboratory would be filled with the voices of those old fossils.

Others really seemed to think she and Elysia were close.

"Does this count as a date?"

Elysia clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward playfully, full of anticipation.

Mobius remained expressionless, without the slightest reaction. "What do you want to eat?"

"Hmm, I want an Elysian Realm, an eternal paradise. I want all the romance and beauty in the world, along with every sweet memory and future. So, Professor, how about smiling first?"

"The most beautiful expression in the world must surely be a smile."

Walking down the street, Elysia's enthusiastic voice seemed completely unaffected by the passersby. It was warm and flamboyant.

Mobius's expression stiffened. Under everyone's gazes, she felt like she was suffering a little social death.

"Professor, you're no fun." Elysia shook her head.

"If it were my little brother, he would definitely go along with my silliness. The warmth and coldness of human relationships, the fickleness of the world—children's dreams only seem unbearably cringey to people like you."

When An Yu was little, he would even follow behind her and call her Wife Sis. But he would not do that anymore... Boys were such heartless creatures.

"Little brother?"

Mobius instantly caught the keyword. Weren't you an orphan?

"My little brother from another world."

Elysia raised her snow-white neck.

Mobius did not know how to respond.

"He's very sweet. If you meet him, Professor, you'll definitely become good friends."

By then, An Yu probably would not keep harping on about the Loving Family.

Good friends?

Mobius offered no opinion. After all, friends were a rather luxurious term in her social circle.

Meanwhile, An Yu, whom Elysia had called very sweet, leisurely walked into the main control room.

Before anyone could let out a scream of piercing electronic distortion, invisible Imaginary Hands had already strangled them in the void. Not even a trace of blood was left on the ground.

"Siberia? This production team really doesn't want this game released. They actually dared to use a real place name for such a bloody, violent game."

Skillfully operating the mainframe, An Yu searched through the system logs before locating the primary projects.

"Basic theoretical research into Honkai energy, research on combining Honkai energy with the human body, and research on combining Honkai energy with weapons."

"So I'm called a Survivor, but I'm actually positioned as a Herrscher. Looks like the Honkai IP written by the original creator was indeed too warm and gentle, which is why fan works have so much bloody violence."

An Yu traced the funding source.

After all, it was only a game, and much of the information was not deeply hidden. He easily found the organization this laboratory belonged to.

"Project sponsor, Europe?"

"It must be Britain again. They have the most experience feeding on blood-soaked buns."

He casually mocked them as the Demon Dragon tore open the top of the tower. An Yu stood at its peak, looking down upon the land. Everywhere he looked was blank white, bleak and devoid of life.

"What kind of garbage map is this? Did it really have to recreate the reality of vast lands and sparse population this faithfully?"

Though it was called a high tower, there were fewer than two thousand people inside. The snowfields were even more desolate, without a single living creature in sight.

"I can't even farm an advanced skill. Trash map."

Survivor: An Yu

Level: 6

Skills: Twin Familiars, Void Realm Apostle 4

Attributes: Attack Speed 2

The Demon Dragon soared into the sky again. It looked imposing, but in reality... it was merely gathering information.

"Though it's called the Void Realm, it's actually closely connected to reality."

An Yu stepped into the sky one step at a time. Strangely enough, despite the Extreme Cold weather, he did not feel cold at all. Was this what being a Survivor meant?

"If Imaginary Space can so easily affect reality..."